Cabra, set in rolling hills a short drive north of the divided city of Mitrovica, may be the loneliest village in Kosovo, it is certainly the most vulnerable. Though inhabited by ethnic Albanians, it is entirely surrounded by Serb villages and farms. If a new Kosovo war broke out, it would once again be in the front line.

Written in the 1980s ice age of Enver Hoxha's regime, the two central novellas in this collection (translated by David Bellos) show the Albanian master at his minatory best, fusing the moods of Kafka and Orwell. In the title tale, a timid hack given a seat with the bigwigs for the annual parade recalls the terror that felled friends - and menaces his lover. "The Blinding Order" mines Ottoman history for a chilling fable of inscrutable tyranny and collective surrender.

Serbia yesterday adopted an "action plan" to be implemented if Kosovo declares independence. The plan is believed to include the downgrading of diplomatic ties with Western states and the economic blockade of the breakaway province.

Talks to find agreement on the future of Kosovo ended in failure yesterday with the Serbian and Albanian sides unable to hammer out a compromise. Mediators said the peace of the region was now at stake.

It's clear the bench monkeys have been given extra training by Ms Pavlov in the Whips' Office. The Prime Minister offers some of the weakest parliamentary answers of his career and the Blonde Beast of the Front Bench presses her button. A violent charge runs through certain selected seats behind her and the occupants leap up sweeping their arms into the air, baring their teeth, shrieking, hooting, knuckling their armpits. The most faithful loyalists remove their underwear to wave their empurpled rumps. Labour solidarity is back. It's draining the national grid.